Mon Coeur
by the one WHO IS
Summary: All I wanted was to reform myself; I never expected to fall in love.
1. Arrival

I had always wondered about becoming a "vegetarian"; live off of animal blood for the rest of my life and conviently ignore humans and crimson sin they carried. The only problem was, I never knew how to make the change.

Then, I heard of the Cullens.

They had been brought up while I was talking to a friend of mine, a wanderer by the name of Laurent. He had said that, though he would undertsand the logic of it, the Cullens had trained themselves to be able to live among the humans without so much as the slightest ounce of bloodlust. Hell, one of the adopted Cullen boys had even managed to start a relationship with a human girl, a girl who (according to Laurent) was his singer as well!

It had not taken much more to convince me. I had pressed Laurent for information, contacted the Cullens, prepared myself for my journey to Forks, Washington

That was I why I found myself maneuvering through the dense green of the forests surrounding the tiny town.

It was raining pretty hard, great sheats of water soaking me thoroughly, and it was cold and it was dark and it smelled like human. Ergo, not the greatest traveling weather. I'd considered stopping for a snack (it would have been the human's own fault for hiking in the midnight torrent) but I was trying to change my life, not keep going the same diection, so I ignored the itching thirst clawing at my throat and kept up the journey.

I'd been running for days, across deserts and over mountains, and my legs needed a good, long rest. As far as I was concerned, the sooner I got to the Cullen's, the better.

In the forest, one loses all sense of time. I could have been "almost there" for a good week and I wouldn't have noticed, so finally seeing the massive Victorian house was the biggest relief in my life. That I hadn't noticed it yet offered me the comforting knowledge that, at least, I hadn't been going in circles.

I moved cautiously around the gargantuan structure, a looming shadow in the rain-darkened moonshine, until I was staring at the clean, white front door. I ducked under the overhang, listening closely for noises of the family inside; they were completely still and I knew they knew I was waiting only meters away. I raised my fist to knock, but it was pointless; a willowy, flaxen-haired vampire threw open the front door. I could feel his wary gaze travel over my tense, travel-worn face and he relaxed, smiled softly, and shifted his body to welcome me.

"You must be Julian, if I'm not very much mistaken, yes?"

His smile warmed further as I stretched my neck and peered over his shoulder at the rest of the house's occupants. However, the blonde vampire's familly did not seem to share his sunny disposion; all but a female, who had moved to their leader's side, positioned themselves protectively around a woman, hair the color of chocolate and skin an opaque and bloodless white.

She was, in turn, protecting a little girl, bronze curls framing an angelic face, eyes shimmering like those of a curious animal. The leader seemed to sense his family's discomfort and his amber eyes flickered to the man nearest the brunette, hair a simillar shade as his daughter's, like polished rust. For a moment nothing moved; then, suddenly, the familly calmed and the brunette set down the child.

I hadn't noticed that I had instinctively stopped breathing but, as the atmosphere lightened, I allowed scent to once more to flow through my nostrils. I tuned my attention back to the leader, still nervous about my tense welcome, and answered, "That's me. And that begs the presumtion that you are Carlisle and the woman next to you is your wife."

I turned to her.

"Esme, right?"

She clapped brightly and nodded with the same sort of happiness as that of an aunt meeting her beloved nephew for the first time, the corner's of her mouth pulling back into the most gentle of smiles. Carlisle chuckled and motioned for me to take a seat alongside his familly. I nodded in quiet thanks and settled myself in a massive, overstuffed, deep blue armchair across from a staunch, tan sofa where the rest of the Cullen's had positioned themselves, still cautious of my presense. Carlisle spoke first.

"So, Julian, what brings you to our humble home?"

The largest of the vampires, a man with cropped, black hair, snorted. A woman with waist-length, platinum hair sitting next to him smacked him gracefully on the shoulder with a resounding 'thwack'. I cleared my throat awkwardly, breathing deeply to calm myself.

"I, um...I want to stop drinking human blood. I'm just tired of the killing and I'm tired of being guilt-tripped by my stomach. It gets old after a couple centuries. I just don't......" I paused, too embarrassed to finish my sentence. Esme smiled gently at me.

"Don't worry, we can help you. Almost everyone here started in the exact same place as you are now; we all know how difficult the decision is." She smiled again and reached out to pat my hand, her maternal nature obvious. Relaxation was washing over me like a dreamy fog and I returned her smile shyly, my auburn braid brushing over my back as my body adjusted.

"Thank you, madame. That's very thoughtful of you."

She giggled and waved her hand about as if to wave away my thanks. Carlisle beamed at his wife proudly for a moment before he turned his attention to me.

"Do you have any prior experience hunting animals? It's fine if you don't, but it will make the transition a lot easier if you have the gist already."

Had I any blood in my veins, I would have blushed as red as a beet at the memory of my vague attempt at hunting a deer. My usual strategy was find a target (usually a woman or a girl), seduce my overly willing prey, and dine to my stomach's content. Animals were vastly different; I had picked a target, a brawny male, but I hadn't even moved to attack when he sensed me a sprinted off. It had taken a good twenty minutes to catch, maneuvering around the trees and rocks to catch up with. By the time I managed to take him down, I was cranky and overtly hungry, and the hikers in the distance were starting to seem _very_ appealing. I don't need to mention the awful mess I made of the poor animal.

"A little but I would prefer not to remember it." I answered, my cheeks prickling. The rust-haired vampire smirked and his mate, the brunette, shot an amused glare at him.

Carlisle flapped his hand, his eyebrows knotting at his son's amusement, and said, "Don't worry, I have a tutorial waiting for you on the couch. Nessy," he gestured towards the little girl. "Could you show our new familly member how to hunt, please?" I tried to draw myself inwards and out of existence as the child stood, as gracefully as a dancer, and nodded; I was going to be taught how to hunt by a seven-year-old!

Of course, I had heard of the mysterious child and her bizzarre ability to grow and change with age; part human, part vampire, she was the subject and cause of much speculation and sceptisism throughout our world.

She walked smoothly over to me now and stood before me in all her tiny, bird-like glory. She looked to her mother momentarilly for reassurence and moved to touch my temples. Suddenly, her father was at her side, staring blankly at me. "Edward," Carlisle cautioned but the young vampire merely smiled and replied, "I want to see how he reacts to what Nessy's about to do." He smirked at me and then gave a bark of laughter, the deep timber of his voice reverbating through the otherwise silent room. He turned to his daughter and said, "Don't show him that one, it makes me look bad." The daughter didn't move, instead choosing to roll her eyes. I stared blatantly at him, astonished, and managed splutter out, "You have a gift!" Edward laughed again and looked over at his smiling wife.

"Everyone here has a gift of some sort. Even Rosalie, though her's is just extreme annoyance." The blonde on the couch glared icilly while her mate let out a hearty guffaw.

I gulped nervously and quickly tried to think if I had ever had a gift too. Edward, seeming to hear my thoughts, smirked and said geneally, "It's not required so don't get so bent out of shape over it. Anyway, Nessy is going to use her gift to show you how we bring down dinner." In a flash, the little girl turned and kicked him sharply in the shin. He winced, but the smile remained plastered to him marble face.

"I told you not to give it away."

He chuckled, massaging his bruised leg, but he backed away in surrender when his daughter glared at him vicously. Her miniature hands reached for my temples again and I tensed as I mentaly prepared myself to expeirence her gift first-hand.

The moment her hot skin touched my forehead, an clear image of her father and mother bloomed in front of my eyes. They were in the same forest I had been in earlier and the mother was carrying the daughter on her back, jumping swiftly from branch to branch, the browns and greens of the forest a blur on all sides. A wolf raced along beneath them, chasing a massive, tauny lion. The cat was sprinting, it's head swerving erractically as it fought, bravely, to stay ahead of it's persuers.

However, from the childs eyes, I could see that it's stamina was fading; veins pulsed against it's skin and it's tongue lolled out of it's mouth as it panted. Suddenly, a blurred Edward launched over the wife and child and onto the doomed animal; a loud crack rippled through the air. The lion's neck snapped like a twig in his grasp and the corpse dropped like a stone, Edward somersaultering gracefully over the body. The wife and child jumped from their tree and gathered around the dead cat, the wolf from before approaching quickly as they all bent to drink.

The little hands left my face and the vision ended. Nessy was smiling at me and, clearly pleased with herself, she danced back to her mother who her promptly lifted her into her arms. The child touched her mother's temple and they giggled, the mother hugging her daughter tightly while the child smirked mischieviously at secret memory. The father chuckled under his breath, clearly in on the joke, and moved to join his familly. I sat pin-straight, stunned; from the corner of the couch, a pixie-like girl with spikey, jet-black hair smiled at me.

"And that, my dear Julian, is how the Cullen's pick up take-out!"

It took a moment for the shock to wear off, but when it did, I shuffled my feet and muttered, "Yeah..." embarrassment prickling painfully in my cheeks.

Carlisle walked over and grasped my hand, a gesture of fatherly concern.

"Please, feel free to stay with us while you get the hang of it. Or, you can move in permanently, if you prefer."

I didn't meet his gaze, out of respect for his generosity, and replied, "I'd like to stay here until I get it right, if you don't mind...?" Esme laughed, a sound like the tinkle of a wine glass shattering, moving to put an arm around my shoulder.

"Splendid! Everyone introduce yourselves please." She beamed, motioning encouragingly at the seated figures of her other adopted children.

The spikey-haired, pixie-girl rushed over and began shaking my hand enthusiastically. "Howdy! I'm Alice," she said with a voice like a music box. "I've been here for couple years now and, believe me, Carlisle and Esme and everybody else are great!"

She skipped lightly back to the couch and threw her arms around a blonde, scars riddling his exposed arms and stoney face. "This is Jasper! He's pretty new too so, I'm sure you'll have a lot in common!" Jasper nodded stiffly in my general direction, his eyes boring into my face as though he were searching for something; I managed a nervous wave in return. Iglanced down at my feet momentarilly, Jasper's eyes still drilling holes into my forehead, when suddenly I felt myself being lifted up and swung around in a crushing embrace. When I was finally released, I found myself staring that the broad chest and equally broad grin of a muscular vampire, his oustretched arm placed dangerously close to my nose.

"'Sup, li'l buddy?!" His grin widened and I gulped, clutching at the sofa as he leaned over to grin into my face. "I think we're gonna get along just fine, right?"

Suddenly the willowiy blonde was beside him and she huffed, pounding him on the head with one graceful fist. "Back off, Emmett! It's really obvious that you're making him uncortable."

Even the anger in her voice managed elegance andI felt very, very small when she smiled gently at me and shook my hand, beauty radiating off her in waves.

"Just ignore him, he always acts like a five-year-old (Emmett 'harumphed' in the background). By the way, my name's Rosalie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle." I mumbled, shocked into formality. She giggled and Emmett smirked proudly, threading an arm around his girlfriend's waist. Edward chuckled and took his wife's hand who, in turn, nudged their daughter into movement. Together, they came forward for introductions; I marveled at the strength of their clear bonds.

"Hello Julian; my name is Edward and this is my wife, Bella, and our daughter, Renesmee or Nessy, for short." Bella smiled and waved while Nessy curtsied, bronze curls draping in front of her face as her small head bowwed

As she turned her head, the light from the crystal chandelier caught Bella's eyes, flashly briefly rust-red before reutning to a murky topaz. Edward, sensing my puzzlement, cleared his throat and announce, thoroughly buisness-like, "Bella's a newborn; hopefully that explains the eyes. She's a little strong still too, so be sure not to get on her bad side." Bella whacked him on the shoulder and he winced. I gulped.

As the conversation lulled, all eyes in the room flickered to me; I gulped and took a deep breath, standing at my full height.

"It's very nice to meet you all. My name is Julian Desmarais and, up until three weeks ago, I was wandering around the south of France. I'm very grateful for your hospitality and I pray that I perform in such a way during my visit that you feel you haven't made a mistake in inviting me." I bowed deeply to my hosts and, fumbling with the hem of shirt, continued standing awkwardly in my place. For a moment there was silence; then, Alice burst out in hysterical laughter. Her face pinched up and she clutched at her stomach, doubling over as she laughed raucously. Hurt and confused, I asked, "What? What did I say?"

Gasping for breath, Alice sputtered, "It's just...you're so formal!" and collapsed once more in a fit of giggles.

And just like that, the atmosphere broke, everyone breaking down in laughter, Emmett's loud guffaws echoing over the delicate tinkling of Esme and Rosalie. Alice rolled around on the ground, giggling like a maniac, while Jasper chuckled good naturedly at her side; Edward and Bella snickered at their family's antics, Nessy joing Alice on the floor. Gradually, laughter faded into small-talk and I finally relaxed, the warmth of my new familly seeping into my soul like hot chocolate on a fozen night.

Eventually, the hour grew late and Esme ushered Bella and Nessy upstairs, Nessy yawning sleepily. Emmett and Rosalie wandered outside, presumabley for a walk leaving Edward to slouch languidly against a wall and myself; Jasper and Alice had seemed to vanish into thin air. Carlisle, lingering in the wake of his wife and children, continued to smile contentedly at me.

Instantly, I became extremely self-conscious noticing how was slouching and flciking my eyes around like a scared animal. Carlisle sighed and offered me his hand, standing. "C'mon," he said. "I'll show you where you can stay while you're here."


	2. Meeting

Things gradually fell into a lazy routine: practice hunting with Edward, play with Nessy, and idle away my extra time hanging around the house or exploring the town. I was also presented the daunting task of getting along with Bella's best friend, a werewolf-human hybrid by the name of Jacob Back. He was a Quillete Indian, a proud race of natives, and was only just beginning to lose his grudge against the vampires that had settled near his territory. From the moment we met, he made it clear that he didn't trust me as far as he could kick me; he turned to me, eyes cold, and explained amiably that if he ever smelled my "parasite stink anywhere in Nessy's general vicinity" he would "rip your stinking carcass apart, burn the pieces, and then dance on ashes." Needless to say, I was suitably insulted (Nessy and I were quickly becoming close friends) and I replied, ''Back off, _chien galuex._" However, I didn't count on his having taken first year French and the encounter with my head also being taken off by a flying sapling.

Later that night, while I nursed my bruised ego and dented head, Edward had tried to explain the bizarre event of werewolf imprinting: the wolf in question becomes bound to one person by the very fabric of their soul. In simpler terms, true love at first sight with no strings attached. You are that person's and they are yours in every way shape and form. I couldn't grasp the concept, even in the most vague sense, so eventually he gave up trying to explain it to me.

Then, four days after I arrived, the Cullen's deemed it time for my first serious hunt. It was sleeting, as per usual in Forks, and the surrounding forests were drinking in the water 'til the tree began to look like a waterlogged salad. The clean scent of rain-soaked earth and the musk of millions of animals hung thick in the air and there was even the faintest scent of salt water in the glimmering in the background. It was the type of atmosphere that made a person never want to interrupt the stillness, never to damage that serene beauty with even something as necessarily trivial as breathing.

It seemed as though the light clouds, bruised moss, spiraling ferns, and vast trees held secrets so ancient that only the air could understand the whispered words. Yet, we were there for only our carnal needs so I gently shattered the sphere of peace I'd been surrounded in and continued onward.

Edward started my lesson in basic functions by explaining "The Rules". Should I run into or smell a human, I was not allowed to go anywhere near them; I was to keep my distance and wait for them to pass and was most definitely not allowed to harm them in any way. Second, I was only to go for smaller game at first, a deer or elk. If proved able to handle that, I could try a much more dangerous and exciting animal next. And finally, I was, under no circumstances, to cross into the Quillete reservation at the city border.

Nearly one hundred years prior, when the Cullen's had first settled in Forks, they had made a tentative truce with the tribe; it had stated that the Cullen's were to keep off tribal land and the Quilletes wouldn't give them anything to worry about.

Not wanting to put any unnecessary stress on my hosts, I agreed immediately and settled back for my first lesson.

"I want you to perch in that tree and observe. When you feel like you have a good idea of how to do it, jump in." said Edward as he pointed to a large fir, indicating a branch at a good height to watch. I saluted with sarcastic respect and he smirked.

From my tree, I studied my friends and made careful mental notes on how Edward, Emmett, and Jasper would stand stock-still as they waited for the scent of prey to waft over their nostrils. When it finally, I gawked silently as they took off at speeds too far fast for mortal eyes to follow; as I was fairly slow for a vampire, I was suitably awestruck. Edward crept up, cat-like, behind a buck and then, quick as lightening, launched himself onto it's back. A sickening crack sliced through the air as the creature's neck snapped, a twig in his powerful hands, and he lowered his mouth to its neck.

I sat, momentarily stunned, while he drained his meal and stood finally, wiping his mouth. I watched as Jasper and Emmett followed suit with their own catches. Then, finally, it was my turn.

Thoroughly self-conscious and completely aware that I was out of my element, I perched nervously on a low branch of a nearby redwood, waiting for the wind to pick up again and throw me the odor of my soon-to-be meal. The noises of the forest wrapped around me in a thick blanket of complete consciousness: birds twittered, deer snuffed, rabbits moved steadily under the ground, humans laughed in the distance, trees spoke with the rain as their translator.

I waited another moment and the wind finally gave a sweet puff in my direction; a gust blew the smell of prey across my face but it was a sweet human scent, not that of an animal. Out of habit I crouched but I tensed and did nothing, reminding myself to wait for a wilder aroma to leap into my focus.

I sat there, unmoving, for what felt like an eternity before another gust came, tickling my nose with new smells. And there it was: musky, earthy, animal. And it was moving. Instantly, I was off, dodging trees, jumping over roots and boulders alike. The forest transformed into a green and brown blur as I sped to greet my target, careful all the time not to let the scent slip away.

For fifteen minutes I tracked it, completely aware of the Cullen's following close behind, making sure I didn't start after a human or that I didn't get carried away and cross the border into the reservation. As we thundered through the undergrowth, I began to realize that the animal knew we following, the scent-path becoming jagged as it zigzagged around in an effort to throw us off. And then, suddenly, the trace began to change; it became sweeter, changing until it was almost indistinguishable from a human male out for a run with his dog. Still, the lingering canine-smell continued to flow through me so I continued, oblivious to Jasper calling out for me to stop. I was so close, the thirst smoldering in my throat rising into an all-consuming fire; I was on autopilot with only instinct to steer my feet. It called me on and I made no move to fight it, even if it meant hunting something I was unprepared to cross.

* * *

SETH'S P.O.V.

"Hey Jake, I was wondering, can we imprint on other guys?"

Jacob Black spit out a veritable waterfall of soda and turned, a look of both abject horror and utter disgust obvious on his features, to stare at me like I had just asked how to impregnate a cow with a turkey-baster.

"What. The. Fuck. Seth, don't ask me shit like that! Anyway, like hell if I know, yeesh..."

I shrugged good-naturedly and flopped onto my sofa, chuckling when he scooted away like I had something contagious. Jake and I had been watching television up until a moment ago when I had flipped it off to ask him the question that caused him to look like Martha Stewart had just proposed to him. He glared at me and turned the piece-of-crap TV back on, grabbing a bursting handful of chips from a bowl on a nearby stool. Smirking at his discomfort, I prodded him with my toe until he moved onto a less comfortable cushion. He glared at me dryly and went back to watching, muttering under his breath about "stupid fucking underlings". I wondered, as I listened to my alpha's grumbling, if I had slight sadistic streak.

While I pondered the merits of asking about gay sex, Leah chose to appear; striding in like an irate hurricane, she stared around the room with eyes that said quite clearly "someone in this room is going to die". There was an air of menace in her stomping as made her way to where I cowered behind a throw pillow and Jake remained oblivious at my side. He looked up with innocent fascination and said, "'Sup Leah?"

Leah jumped like he had tasered her rather than politely greeting her and turned slowly to face us; she was livid. With three long strides, she crossed the suddenly too-small room and stood before us, eyes boring like drill bits into our skulls. A ferocious snarl rippled from her throat and, without further hesitation, she raised a fist and socked Jacob as hard as she possibly could in the nose.

Jake let out a particularly unmanly squeak and grasped franticly at his now gushing nose, aiming a kick at me when I cackled like a gremlin at his situation. Sadistic streak: confirmed. At the sound of my voice, Leah turned her fierce eyes on me and I quickly rolled over the back of the couch to avoid her next punch, continuing to laugh all the while.

Jacob scowled up at her, looking rather like an angry puppy, and shouted through the slow-flowing stream coming from his broken nose, "WHAD DA HELL WAD DAT FOR?!" She returned his glare and reached down to roughly reset to his nose. I giggled when he yelped and swatted at her hand. Leah, finishing her ministrations, collapsed onto the sofa, kicking up her feet onto Jake's lap.

"I swear to God, Jake, if you hadn't imprinted on one of them, I'd rip those stinking bloodsucker's throats out!"

Jake sighed and looked her over wearily.

"Whad happed dis tibe?"

Leah, glared at the ceiling momentarily, releasing a short "huff" of angry air before she answered, "That blonde bitch Rosalie said she was so glad that you'd given Renessmee such a good guard-dog that she'd have to remember to start setting out two dog bowls." Muttering curses and impossible threats under her breath, she rolled over onto her stomach. Jake let out a low whistle and I shook my head sadly, pitying my sister.

"That's really low, even for her."

"No shit. God, I hate all of them, every single stinking parasite in that entire fucking house."

"You should'd talk aboud dem dat way. Dey're like by fabily, Leah, ad you dow dat."

She "harumphed" angrily, but fell silent nonetheless. Figuring I'd let Jake help Leah to cool off, I meandered over to the kitchen; my quest, a massive pepperoni pizza that had been positively singing my name for half the day.

* * *

Mooching around in the kitchen was, evidently, an extremely useful way to give my sister time to stick her boiling head in a bucket of cold water; when I walked back in from my pizza-massacre, she and Jake were laughing hystericaly at some random comedian who was gesturing wildly on the TV. Taking it as my cue to once more make things exceedingly uncomfortable, I leaned languidly over the back of the sofa and put my lips close to my leader's ear. Smirking, I whispered as huskily as my pubescent voice allowed, "You still haven't answered my question, Jacob." I smirked as I felt him freeze and watched as red began to creep up steadily over the back of his neck. And that's when Leah kicked me in the back of my kneecaps, having snuck up behind me while I was distracted tormenting Jake.

My legs giving out from beneath me, I yelped, landing my with a painful "thud" on the hard, wood floor. Massaging my head, I glared at my sister.

"What the hell, Leah?!"

"Don't do that, Seth. It's nauseating to think about you doing things like _that_ with _him_. Oh god, the _images_!"

"Jesus Christ, you're acting like tried to stick my hand down his pants! I was just trying to get him to answer my damn question, that's all! Don't jump to conclusions..." Wincing, I stood, completely displeased as the situation; the idea of me flirting with Jake, or doing _anything_ with Jake, was so sickening that it made want to vomit up the entire pizza I'd just eaten.

She sighed and put her fingertips to her forehead, eyebrows knotted as she struggled to gather her thoughts. Jake looked at me like he had no idea what to say, opening and closing his mouth a few time before finally leaving it closed. Leah broke the awkward silence first.

"Well, what the hell is this question of yours, squirt?"

"Can we imprint on boys or is it restricted to just girls?" I answered without missing a beat.

Leah blanched, looking wildly at Jake for help; he simply shrugged and gave her look as if to say "I tried to warn you.". She groaned and slumped against the wall, her hands coming up to massage her temples.

"Why do you want know that?"

"I don't know, I just do."

She murmured darkly, covering her eyes with her palm.

"I thought you liked _girls_, Seth."

I squirmed uncomfortably, her question making me feel as though someone had dumped a large amount of ants on my body. It wasn't that I didn't _like_ girls, per-say, I had just always been slightly more interested in boys. I wasn'tgay, just inconveniently stuck somewhere in the middle, waiting for the confirmed-sexuality train to arrive at my stop. I was about to explain this to her when she cut me off, her hand coming to rest on her hip.

"Well, your sexuality aside, I don't know. As far as I've been told, we're the only ones of our kind and, as far as I've been told, all of us have been straight thus far. Honestly, I really don't have a clue." She ran her other hand through her shorn hair, clearly uncomfortable with the situation; I fell back onto an ratty armchair near the sofa and put my arm over my eyes, silence once more overtaking the room.

Abruptly, I stood again, causing Jake to give yet another yelp of non-masculinity and Leah to jump a good five feet in the air.

"I'm going for a run, I'll be back eventually." I said, grabbing a bag for my clothes as I strode out the front door. Leah made a motion like she going to try and stop me but I glanced over my shoulder at her and shook my head. She fell back and wrung her hands, expression nervous.

Once under the cover of the trees and naked, I let myself change, sprouting thick tufts of fur and letting my body become the wolf. I took off into the trees, thinking vaguely of visiting Bella and tattling to her about Jake's teasing. I ran for miles, twisting and turning to avoid trees and boulders, leaping through lush beds of ferns, the rain dampening my coat. Slowly, I became conscious that I was not alone in the woods, the thought's of my pack-mate's flowing freely through my consciousness.

A few members of the pack were out either patrolling or hunting; choosing my friend Quil to correspond directly with, I thought, "What's it feel like to imprint. I mean, emotionally."

I felt Quil pause, registering my increased presence in his mind, before replying, "Really great, a lot better than those weird mushrooms Emmett put in your sandwich. But you get real protective and kinda obsessive about the person too. I guess, you feel like you'd do anything to make them happy and you absolutely never wanna leave 'em. Doesn't matter who they are or how old they are, you never wanna let them outta your sight. There're no secrets and you can trust them with your life. I- I don't really know how to put it any other way...", he finished awkwardly.

I "harumphed".

"Sounds nice. You think I'll ever get to imprint?"

Quil tittered absentmindedly about smelling ham somewhere nearby for a moment before he answered. "Dunno," he thought. "Maybe you will, maybe you won't. I didn't think I was ever going to and then I met Claire..." Instantly his thoughts turned mushy and sentimental; I couldn't move fast enough to tune them out.

* * *

After a while, I began to lose myself in the forest. I allowed instinct to take over, stopping only occasionally to sniff at trees or take playful snaps at squirrels. I gallivanted all over the forest, running until I was past the weakening border of Cullen estate. I galloped around, the sickly sweet scent of vampires beginning to grow stronger as I neared the house. Then I heard it, the rapid of feet against the forest floor and suddenly the sweet scent became so strong that it began to burn my delicate nose; I knew the Cullen's scent, this was not one of them. I howled as it became so strong, I thought my nose was going to begin to bleed, and took off into the thick growth. The footfalls dogging my back were determined and even; whoever it was, it knew its purpose. Immediately, I increased my speed, running as fast as I could possibly go without hurting myself, trying to draw the creature away from the reservation border and over to the house. There, I would have allies; out in the forest, I was alone. I figured they were probably after me because it had smelled my wolf form and thought I was a dog or fox.

I needed to throw it off my trail so, thinking quickly, I allowed myself to change back into my human form, sprinting all the while towards the Cullen house. However, my efforts were in vain as I heard my pursuer speed up, moving in for the final kill. Suddenly, a weight like a brick wall crashed onto my back and I tumbled face first into the soggy ground, the deadweight of my attacker's body landing fully on my midriff. Its skin was so cold that it burned my own and I opened my mouth to yell in pain but the sweet stench it gave off made me want gag.

It flipped me onto my back and two hands like iron clamps forced my arms above my head and pinned them there, leaving me defenseless and vulnerable. I could feel the transformation beginning to simmer in my blood and I wriggled beneath my would-be killer, hoping desperately to give myself an opening to attack and get free. In the back of my mind I remembered vaguely that, even if it let me live after biting me, the venom would continue to kill me slowly and painfully. Resigning myself to the worst, I hoped to some ethereal being somewhere that it wouldn't last long and death would come immediately to claim me.

I turned my head, wanting to look at the vampire that was going to kill me, wanting to look at the face of the creature that was going to take my life.

I shifted my head and cracked open one of my eyes; a pair of bright, ruby-red irises stared directly back. For a moment, time itself seemed to stop and then, with the force of an oncoming train, it began to move again. I could feel a warmth like being held in the arms of the sun rushing through my veins and the entire world fell away in pieces; the parts of my life that had seemed so important suddenly became trivial and all that was left was this nagging "hold onto this person, never let them go". Other bonds I had formed fell away from me like old cobwebs beneath a child's hand and all that was left an unbreakable chord, pulling us together until it seemed we would fuse and become one. We were a single soul, split between two bodies for so long, and finally able to join together again.

I was so wrapped up in my own inexplicable realization that I didn't notice my attacker pause and begin to gaze at me with an unexplainable and irrational love. The vampire, an enemy I had never met before in my life, bent slowly as if we were underwater; there were no sounds other than my heartbeat and our mingled breathing as we moved through our own personal ether. He bent and put his lips by my ear; I shivered at the feel of his icy breath.

"Hello, my name is Julian."

I fought to keep myself sane as his deep voice echoed through my body, the lilt of his French accent turning his words into poetry.

"H-hey, 'm S-Seth."

Julian shifted his body so that he was leaning over me, straddling my waist and holding my hands still pinned behind my head. We could have been in a crowd of people with cameras, on gruesome battlefield, or all alone in my house and it wouldn't have made any difference. Life had paused and we were floating together in our own bantam void. He was more shockingly beautiful than any of his kind, than anyone in the whole world. A sleek, russet braid snaked it's over his shoulder, while long bangs framed the marble face of a Greek god come down from Mount Olympus or a modern day porn star. Sinew stood out clearly in his lithe, chalk-white arms and his blood red eyes were like two chips of garnet in his pale face. I felt as breathing began to quicken, to the point of hyperventilating, when he bent his otherworldly face closer to mine.

"Well Seth, I must say, it's very nice to meet you. I do have a confession, though. Would you like to hear what it is?"

My breath caught in my throat and my cheeks flamed as I struggled to regain coherent thought.

"S-sure."

He bent forward so that his face was only centimeters from mine and smirked, his eyes locked on my half-lidded ones.

"I've just fallen madly in love with you."

"That's f-fucking weird. I've got th-the s-same thing going on on m-my head. F-funny, ain't it?"

His smirk widened.

"Seems we have the same problem, Seth."

He didn't let me respond.


End file.
